History of Indiana Ultimate

Pam (Slabaugh) Slagle grew up in a little town in northern Indiana called Wakarusa. Pam’s love for cheer began at a young age, and continued to grow long after her days of cheering came to an end.  After attending college, Pam was given the opportunity to coach at NorthWood High School where she had previously cheered. Pam brought to the NorthWood program a tremendous sense of passion and pride and developed a truly successful program. Pam continued to coach at NWHS for the next 25 years, as well as working as a Registered Nurse, which she still does today in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit.  Pam saw the opportunity to use the sport of cheerleading to teach young athletes about life, and becoming strong, capable, responsible adults. Soon after Pam began coaching at NorthWood, she and Rob met and were married in June of 1986. A couple years later, their son, Tyler (now teaches Ultimate Fitness at Indiana Ultimate), was born. Emily (now coaches at Indiana Ultimate) came along 5 years after that.  Emily attended most practices with her mom and it wasn’t long until she began showing interest in all-star cheer at a small gym in Goshen, Indiana called Elkhart Elite. Pam began coaching at Elkhart Elite, when Emily joined the “PeeWee” team.  In 2005 Pam was approached by the owners of Elkhart Elite and asked if she would be interested in purchasing their gym. After a few months of planning and negotiating with her friend and business partner, Susie Eakle, Indiana Ultimate was born. Their first official year in business was 2006. Pam and Susie attended the World Championships in Orlando that spring and made a commitment to each other that they would return to Orlando the next year with a Worlds team. The very next year, Indiana Ultimate attended Worlds with U5, a small senior coed team.

Since then, Indiana Ultimate has taken a team to the World Championships every year. In 2013, Pam bought Susie’s shares and became the sole owner of Indiana Ultimate. At around the same time, Rob Slagle became the General Manager/Program Director for the organization. Fast forward to 2015, Indiana Ultimate opened it’s 2^nd location in Ft Wayne IN, approximately 65 miles from Elkhart after buying Hoosier Elite All-Stars & Tumbling (HEAT).   In 2019 Indiana Ultimate brought home it’s 1^st World Championship title, winning the International Open Small Coed L5 division.   Indiana Ultimate was the first gym in the state of Indiana to bring home a Worlds Championship title. 

There are many key players to our history and the success we have achieved thus far, but each year we add more key players to the family. Indiana Ultimate is the gym it is today because of those who committed to becoming part of a gym family with big dreams.  There is a family atmosphere at Indiana Ultimate.   Our goal is to not only develop great athletes, but  instill character traits such as honesty, integrity, hard work, commitment, sacrifice, loyalty, leadership and teamwork that will follow them into their adulthood. 

We love that we are making a difference with our gym, that we have impact on the many young lives we touch. Clearly, it is about far more than just cheerleading at Indiana Ultimate. We don’t take our responsibility lightly. We are excited for the future! We are looking forward to continuing our legacy of developing strong, capable and responsible adults.